Data-Based Vehicle Characteristic System

ABSTRACT

Toy vehicles are configured such that at least one performance characteristic may be determined based upon information obtained from a data card and/or from encoded information from other sources, such as key-pads, smart phones, etc.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The current application claims the benefit of U.S. provisionalapplication, Ser. No. 61/557,956, filed Nov. 10, 2011, the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The current application relates to the field of motorized toy vehicles;and, specifically, motorized toy vehicles such as remote control cars,trucks, helicopters, boats, tanks, airplanes and the like.

Some known systems may allow a user to upgrade certain vehiclecomponents such as motors, transmission gears, and/or tires to changethe performance of a toy vehicle. Some such upgrades, which may bereferred to as “hop-ups,” may involve changes to mechanical systemsand/or may require some skill and manual dexterity to perform.

SUMMMARY

The present disclosure generally pertains to toy vehicles. Morespecifically, some example embodiments according to the presentdisclosure may include toy vehicles configured such that least oneperformance characteristic that may be determined based at least in partupon information obtained from a data card and/or from alternate encodedinformation.

In an embodiment, a toy vehicle includes: a toy vehicle body including amechanical locomotion component and/or a mechanical steering componentmounted thereto; a control circuit operatively mounted to the vehiclebody and operative to control the mechanical locomotion component and/orthe mechanical steering component in accordance with one or moreperformance characteristics taken that may include vehicle top speed,vehicle acceleration, and/or vehicle turning radius; and a data cardreader communicatively coupled to the control circuit; where, thecontrol circuit is configured to adjust the performancecharacteristic(s) based upon data communicated to the control circuit bythe data card reader. In a more detailed embodiment, the data cardreader may be mounted to the toy vehicle body, to a remote control unitor to another component. Alternatively, or in addition, the data cardreader may be configured to obtain data from memory storage provided ona data card. Alternatively, or in addition, the data card reader may beconfigured to obtain data from an electrical component provided on adata card; where the electrical component provided on the data card maybe a resister component. Alternatively, or in addition, the data cardreader may be configured to obtain data from a physical shape of a datacard component. Alternatively, or in addition, the data card reader maybe configured to obtain data from two or more electrical contactsprovided on a data card. Alternatively, or in addition, the data cardreader may be configured to obtain data that is encoded onto a data card(e.g., magnetically, electrically, visually, optically, etc).

In an embodiment, the toy vehicle may further include on-board memorystoring a plurality of different sets of performance characteristic datacombinations, and the control circuit may utilize one of the pluralityof adjustment sets of performance characteristic data combinations basedupon data communicated to the control circuit by the data card reader.Alternatively, or in addition, the on-board memory may further include adefault performance characteristic data combination, and the controlcircuit utilizes the default performance characteristic data combinationif no data is communicated to the control circuit by the data cardreader to select one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performancecharacteristics. Alternatively, or in addition, the toy vehicle mayfurther include a plurality of data cards, where each of the pluralityof data cards are configured operate with the data card reader to causethe data card reader to communicate data corresponding to a respectiveone of the plurality of adjustment sets of performance characteristicdata combinations.

In an embodiment, the toy vehicle may further include an LED and/or anelectronic display operative to indicate a value of the performancecharacteristic(s). Alternatively, or in addition, the mechanicallocomotion component may include a wheel and/or a propeller.

In another embodiment, a toy vehicle includes a toy vehicle body havinga mechanical locomotion component and/or a mechanical steering componentmounted thereto; and a control circuit operatively mounted to thevehicle body and operative to control the mechanical locomotioncomponent and/or the mechanical steering component in accordance withone or more performance characteristics that include vehicle top speed,vehicle acceleration, and/or vehicle turning radius; where the controlcircuit is configured to adjust the performance characteristic(s) basedupon performance characteristic selection data communicated to thecontrol circuit. In a more detailed embodiment, the toy vehicle furtherincludes a data card reader operative to communicate the performancecharacteristic selection data to the control circuit based uponinformation read from a data card. In a more detailed embodiment, thedata card reader may be mounted to the toy vehicle body. Alternatively,or in addition, the toy vehicle further includes a keypad assemblyoperative to communicate the performance characteristic selection datato the control circuit based upon keys actuated on the keypad.Alternatively, or in addition, the toy vehicle may further include aninterface for connecting to a memory device and operative to communicatethe performance characteristic selection data to the control circuitbased upon information read from a memory device received into theinterface. In a more detailed embodiment, the interface is may be an SDmemory card interface or a similar memory card interface.

In an embodiment, the toy vehicle may include a wireless transceiverassembly operative to communicate the performance characteristicselection data to the control circuit based upon information received bythe wireless transceiver assembly. In a more detailed embodiment, thetoy vehicle may further include a remote control unit operative towirelessly communicate the performance selection data to the wirelesstransceiver. Alternatively, or in addition, the remote control unit maybe operative to communicate vehicle operation information to the controlcircuit, where the vehicle operation information may include, forexample, move forward, move left, move right, and/or move backward.

In an embodiment, the toy vehicle may include on-board memory storing aplurality of different sets of performance characteristic datacombinations, and the control circuit utilizes one of the plurality ofadjustment sets of performance characteristic data combinations basedupon the performance selection data communicated to the control circuit.In a more detailed embodiment, the on-board memory may further include adefault performance characteristic data combination, and the controlcircuit may utilize the default performance characteristic datacombination if no performance selection data is communicated to thecontrol circuit to select one of the plurality of adjustment sets ofperformance characteristics. Alternatively, or in addition, the toyvehicle may further include a plurality of data cards, where each of theplurality of data cards is configured operate a data card reader tocause the data card reader to communicate performance selection datacorresponding to a respective one of the plurality of adjustment sets ofperformance characteristic data combinations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation of a toy vehicle according toan exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional representation of a toy vehicle accordingto an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2B is an exploded, perspective view of various componentsillustrated in FIG. 2A;

FIGS. 3A-3D are perspective views of a an exemplary toy vehicleaccording to the current disclosure, illustrating an example way toinsert a data card into a card reader carried by the vehicle;

FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate some examples of various exemplary data-cardsthat may be used with the current disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates another example embodiment of a toy vehicle accordingto the current disclosure; and

FIG. 6 illustrates an example remote control component of an exemplarytoy vehicle according to the current disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure generally pertains to toy vehicles. Morespecifically, some example embodiments according to the presentdisclosure may include toy vehicles configured such that least oneperformance characteristic that may be determined based at least in partupon information obtained from a data card and/or from an alternatesource of encoded information.

The present disclosure contemplates that radio-controlled toy and hobbyvehicles may be available in a wide array of classes, scales, andquality. As described herein, toy vehicles may include, for example andwithout limitation, cars, trucks, helicopters, boats, tanks, and/orairplanes.

Some example toy vehicles according to at least some aspects of thepresent disclosure may allow the user to perform vehicle “hop-ups” byelectronically adjusting one or more performance characteristics. Forexample, some embodiments may use a compact computer chip card, whichmay be generally similar to an SD card, or similarly sized card. Thecard may contain one or more specific vehicle variables that may specifyone or more vehicle performance characteristics, such as top speed,acceleration rate, and/or steering radius. When the card is insertedinto the vehicle, a vehicle integrated circuit (IC) may read data fromthe card and may use the data to implement new vehicle performancecharacteristics. A selection of cards encoded to provide differentperformance characteristics may be available to the user on the market.Thus, users of a wide range of skill sets may perform vehicle “hop-ups”without the limitation of manual dexterity, tools, etc.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, in some example embodiments according to atleast some aspects of the present disclosure, a toy vehicle (such as acar) may include a body 101 (such as a car or truck body, an airplanebody, a boat body, a helicopter body and the like), a mechanicallocomotion component 110 (such as driven wheels for a car, a drivenpropeller for a boat or airplane or helicopter), and a mechanicalsteering component 112 (such as a components for steering the car, boat,airplane or helicopter), and a control circuit 114 configured to controlthe mechanical locomotion component 110 and/or mechanical steeringcomponent 112 based upon action commands/signals (e.g., accelerate, turnright, turn left, stop, boost, etc.) received from a remote controldevice (or from some other source) and/or pre-programmed into thecontrol circuit. The vehicle may include a data reading device 102(e.g., a reader), which may be capable of reading data from one or moredata cards 104A, 104B, 104C (e.g., an SD card) or other similar encodeddevices or data storage devices, for the purpose of reading one or moredata values that may be associated with specific performancecharacteristics of the vehicle including but not limited to top speed,rate of acceleration, power boost potential and vehicle turning rate (ordegree of steering angle). For example, data card 104A may include dataassociated with a first set of performance characteristics, data card104B may include data associated with a second set of performancecharacteristics, and data card 104C may include data associated with athird set of performance characteristics. When data card 104A isinstalled in reader 102, toy vehicle 100 may operate according to thefirst set of performance characteristics. When data card 104B isinstalled in reader 102, toy vehicle 100 may operate according to thesecond set of performance characteristics. When data card 104C isinstalled in reader 102, toy vehicle 100 may operate according to thethird set of performance characteristics.

In some example embodiments according to at least some aspects of thepresent disclosure, a data card 104A may include an SD card, a micro SDcard, a card with ROM and/or RAM memory, flash memory, and/or similarconventional data storage device. Referring to FIG. 4A, in some exampleembodiments according to at least some aspects of the presentdisclosure, a data card 104D may include a physical set of one or moreelectronic components, such as a resistor 104DR, such that the onboarddata reader (of the vehicle) may read the resistor value on the storagemedia (card) and derive one or more data values for the vehiclecharacteristics, such as by comparing a read resistance value with adata array stored in the vehicle's onboard memory.

In some example embodiments according to at least some aspects of thepresent disclosure, a data card may include information encoded onto thecard. For example, and without limitation, data may be encodedmechanically or electromechanically onto the card. For example,referring to FIG. 4B, a data card 204 may include one or more moldedshapes, such as ribs 204A, which may be arranged to push certaincontacts on/off when inserted into the reader. Based on which of thecontacts are actuated, the toy vehicle may determine the performancecharacteristics that are to be implemented. The particular arrangementof ribs on a data card may provide a “code” to the reader.

As another example, referring to FIG. 4C, a data card 304 may includeone or more electrical contacts 304A which may be arranged similar tothe contacts on the back of a conventional SD card. The electricalcontacts 304A may be internally connected (or may remain unconnected) ina manner that allows the reader to obtain information from the card thatmay be used to determine performance characteristics that are to beimplemented. For example, some of the electrical contacts may beinternally connected with each other while others may be internallydisconnected. By determining which contacts are connected and/or whichcontacts are not connected, the toy vehicle may be able to ascertainwhich performance characteristics are to be implemented. The identitiesof electrical contacts that are internally connected (or disconnected)may provide a “code” to the reader.

As another example, data may be encoded onto the card in the form ofvisually detectable information, such as bar-codes and the like.

In some example embodiments according to the present disclosure, a“code” obtained from a data card (e.g., digitally, mechanically,electrically, etc.) may be associated with a particular set ofperformance characteristics that may be preprogrammed into a toyvehicle. The toy vehicle may be configured to implement different setsof performance characteristics depending at least in part upon the“code” that is obtained by the reader.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in some example embodiments according to atleast some aspects of the present disclosure, a vehicle may be connectedby a data connection to an input device such as a personal computingdevice 120 (for the purpose of the current disclosure a personalcomputing device may include, without limitation, desktop computers,laptop computers, hand-held computers, tablet computers, smart phonesand the like) and data values for the performance characteristics may bestored into (i.e., uploaded into) the vehicle's RAM unit and/or similarflash data storage device using the input device. In some exampleembodiments according to at least some aspects of the presentdisclosure, data values may be input into a vehicle through a data inputpanel, such as a keypad 122 that may mounted to or otherwise operativelyassociated with the vehicle. In some example embodiments according to atleast some aspects of the present disclosure, a data input panel (e.g.,keypad 122) may include a separate unit that may be operativelyassociated with (e.g., tethered to) a car to input the data. In someexample embodiments according to at least some aspects of the presentdisclosure, a toy vehicle may be configured to receive data keyed in viaa wired and/or wireless connection, such as from personal computingdevice 120 and/or keypad 122. Personal computing device 120 and/orkeypad 122 may be used in connection with and/or in place of data cards104A, 104B, 104C.

In some example embodiments according to at least some aspects of thepresent disclosure, a toy vehicle may be configured to receive a code,which may reference a data array stored into the vehicle's memory. Thedata array may include information pertaining to a plurality ofperformance characteristics that may be retrieved and/or loaded theminto memory based at least in part upon receipt of the code. Forexample, a keypad 122 may be used to input a code (e.g., 2643), whichmay correspond to a first set of certain speed, acceleration, andturning characteristics. If a different code is received from the keypad122, a different set of speed, acceleration, and turning characteristicsmay be implemented.

FIG. 2A illustrates a cross-sectional view of an example configurationof an example toy vehicle 100 according to the current disclosure, andFIG. 2B shows an exploded, perspective view of some of the componentsshown in FIG. 2A. As shown in FIG. 2A, a vehicle body may include a basecomponent 210 and a translucent or transparent cover component 212mounted over the base component 210 and housing various components ofthe vehicle therein. In the example shown in

FIG. 2A, a main printed circuit board 214 (which may include the controlcircuit 114) is mounted within the vehicle body and is electricallycoupled to a data card reader component 102 (which may be an SD cardreader component in the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 2A), which isalso mounted within the vehicle body. As shown in FIG. 2A a data card104A has been inserted into the card reader component, through anopening in the vehicle body. A second printed circuit board 216 is alsomounted within the vehicle body and includes LEDs 218 or other displaysthat are viewable through the translucent or transparent cover component212. The LEDs 212 and/or other displays may be useful to show to theuser, for example, some of the performance parameter settings asprovided by the data card 104A.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example toy vehicle 100 including keypad 122mounted thereto. In some example embodiments according to at least someaspects of the present disclosure, information associated with avehicle's data variables may be displayed on the vehicle, such as on adisplay screen 124, such as an LCD display, TFT display, and/or othersimilar unit capable of displaying data values.

An example method of operating a toy vehicle according to at least someaspects of the present disclosure may include inserting a memory deviceinto a remote-controlled toy vehicle; causing the toy vehicle to receiveat least one data value (from a data-card reader, from a personalcomputing device and/or from a remote control device); causing the toyvehicle to set at least one performance parameter based at least in partupon the at least one data value; and operating the toy vehicle inaccordance with the at least one performance parameter. In some examplemethods, the performance parameter may include at least one of topspeed, rate of acceleration, and maximum steering angle.

In some example embodiments according to at least some aspects of thepresent disclosure, a vehicle may include a remotely controlled vehicle,which may be configured for control via radio, infrared, or otherwireless signal. In some example embodiments according to at least someaspects of the present disclosure, a vehicle may be configured to followa preprogrammed route and/or may be autonomously controlled.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example remote control 400 component of the toyvehicle, which may include a left steering button 402, a right steeringbutton 404 , a forward button 406, a reverse button 408, a turbo button410, a mode switch 412 (e.g., run, off, charge), and one or moreindicator lights 414 (e.g., steering, engine, battery, charge). It iswithin the scope of the current disclosure that the card reader may beincorporated into the remote control 400 component and vehicleperformance characteristic information associated with information readyby the card reader may be transmitted to the vehicle control circuit inthe same or similar manner as the vehicle control information.

In some example embodiments according to at least some aspects of thepresent disclosure, a toy vehicle may include one or more of thefollowing example features:

Full function (6 way) R/C car: “Turbo” (high speed or boost) function.This may increase the vehicle speed limit by, for example, about 25% ofthe top speed variable (TS) of the car so long as the button is pressed.Headlights (2 white LED) and dashboard light (1 blue LED) ON while goingforward. Taillights (2 red LED) ON while going backward. On/Off slideswitch on car. Rechargeable battery (charged from transmitter), such asa capacitor type storage unit. Overall length: 110 mm; wheelbase 60 mm.Translucent roof panel with printed circuit board mounted underneathwith the following: a. Top Speed, Torque (Acceleration), and SteeringLED indicator lights; b. LCD panel featuring 1-digit display; “SELECT”rubber key button allows you to toggle the display through each of the 3variables (Speed, Torque, Steering).

5-button R/C Transmitter with charging function: Forward, Reverse, Left,Right. “Turbo” (high speed) button; “Turbo” light (1 red LED) on whenbutton pushed. “Steering” yellow LED lights when LEFT or RIGHT button ispushed. “Motor” yellow LED lights when FORWARD or REVERSE button ispushed. Wired plug charges car's battery; “Charge” light (1 green LED)on while charging; when charge is full the light turns off; chargingstops. Uses 4× “AA” batteries

Exemplary Data Card. Chip approximately the size of a SD card. The usermay insert this card into the car. The chip may control one or more ofthe following variables: a. Top Speed—the maximum speed of the car iscontrolled by this variable. The variable “TS” may be expressed as afraction or percentage of the maximum potential speed of the car. Forexample, TS=0.70 may mean that this car cannot exceed about 70% of themaximum speed of the system. b. Acceleration—The time it takes for thecar to achieve top speed (TS). The variable “AC” may be expressed inunit time, seconds. When the user releases the Forward button, thecounter may be reset. E.g., AC=2.5 may mean the car cannot achieve theTS until about 2.5 seconds after pressing the Forward button and holdingcontinuously. If the user releases the Forward button, it will takeabout another 2.5 seconds to reach TS. c. Steering—This is the amount oftravel of the steering wheels. The variable “ST” may be expressed as afraction or percentage of full travel. For example, ST=0.75 may meanthat the wheels can only rotate about 75% of the full travel allowed bythe system. There may be several chips available so that multiple carsetups can be achieved. If a chip is not inserted into the car, then thecar may use DEFAULT settings. The chip may attach from the bottom of thecar. The chip may not be an actual SD card.

Indicator lights. While the car is charging, the dashboard light (1 blueLED) may be on. If an SD card is not inserted when the car is on, then aWarning light (1 yellow LED) may be on. This light may be mounted to theroof of the car.

Controller. Some example controllers may use one or more tactileswitches. Some example embodiments may use touch sensors instead of orin addition to tactile switches. The transmitters may use 4× AAbatteries. Some example embodiments may use 4× AAA batteries. In someembodiments, the controller may be incorporated into the personalcomputing device, for example.

While example embodiments have been set forth above for the purpose ofdisclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments as well as otherembodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly,it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the aboveprecise embodiments and that changes may be made without departing fromthe express scope of the following claims. Likewise, it is to beunderstood that it is not necessary to meet any or all of the statedadvantages or objects disclosed herein to fall within the scope of thedisclosure, since inherent and/or unforeseen advantages may exist eventhough they may not have been explicitly discussed herein.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy vehicle, comprising: a toy vehicle body including at least oneof a mechanical locomotion component and a mechanical steering componentmounted thereto; a control circuit operatively mounted to the vehiclebody and operative to control the at least one of the mechanicallocomotion component and the mechanical steering component in accordancewith one or more performance characteristics taken from a groupconsisting of, vehicle top speed, vehicle acceleration, and vehicleturning radius; and a data card reader communicatively coupled to thecontrol circuit; the control circuit being configured to adjust the oneor more performance characteristics based upon data communicated to thecontrol circuit by the data card reader.
 2. The toy vehicle of claim 1,wherein the data card reader is mounted to the toy vehicle body.
 3. Thetoy vehicle of claim 1, wherein the data card reader is configured toobtain data from memory storage provided on a data card.
 4. The toyvehicle of claim 1, wherein the data card reader is configured to obtaindata from an electrical component provided on a data card.
 5. The toyvehicle of claim 4, wherein the electrical component provided on thedata card is a resister component.
 6. The toy vehicle of claim 1,wherein the data card reader is configured to obtain data from aphysical shape of a data card component.
 7. The toy vehicle of claim 1,wherein the data card reader is configured to obtain data from two ormore electrical contacts provided on a data card.
 8. The toy vehicle ofclaim 1, wherein the data card reader is configured to obtain data thatis encoded onto a data card.
 9. The toy vehicle of claim 1, wherein: thetoy vehicle comprises on-board memory storing a plurality of differentsets of performance characteristic data combinations; and the controlcircuit utilizes one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performancecharacteristic data combinations based upon data communicated to thecontrol circuit by the data card reader.
 10. The toy vehicle of claim 9,wherein the on-board memory further includes a default performancecharacteristic data combination, and the control circuit utilizes thedefault performance characteristic data combination if no data iscommunicated to the control circuit by the data card reader to selectone of the plurality of adjustment sets of performance characteristics.11. The toy vehicle of claim 9, further comprising a plurality of datacards, each of the plurality of data cards being configured operate withthe data card reader to cause the data card reader to communicate datacorresponding to a respective one of the plurality of adjustment sets ofperformance characteristic data combinations.
 12. The toy vehicle ofclaim 1, further comprising at least one of an LED and an electronicdisplay operative to indicate a value of the one or more performancecharacteristics.
 13. The toy vehicle of claiml, wherein the mechanicallocomotion component comprises at least one of a wheel and a propeller.14. A toy vehicle, comprising: a toy vehicle body including at least oneof a mechanical locomotion component and a mechanical steering componentmounted thereto; a control circuit operatively mounted to the vehiclebody and operative to control the at least one of the mechanicallocomotion component and the mechanical steering component in accordancewith one or more performance characteristics taken from a groupconsisting of, vehicle top speed, vehicle acceleration, and vehicleturning radius; and the control circuit being configured to adjust theone or more performance characteristics based upon performancecharacteristic selection data communicated to the control circuit. 15.The toy vehicle of claim 14, further comprising a data card readeroperative to communicate the performance characteristic selection datato the control circuit based upon information read from a data card. 16.The toy vehicle of claim 15, wherein the data card reader is mounted tothe toy vehicle body.
 17. The toy vehicle of claim 14, furthercomprising a keypad assembly operative to communicate the performancecharacteristic selection data to the control circuit based upon keysactuated on the keypad.
 18. The toy vehicle of claim 14, furthercomprising an interface for connecting to a memory device and operativeto communicate the performance characteristic selection data to thecontrol circuit based upon information read from a memory devicereceived into the interface.
 19. The toy vehicle of claim 18, whereinthe interface is an SD memory card interface.
 20. The toy vehicle ofclaim 14, further comprising a wireless transceiver assembly operativeto communicate the performance characteristic selection data to thecontrol circuit based upon information received by the wirelesstransceiver assembly.
 21. The toy vehicle of claim 20, furthercomprising a remote control unit operative to wirelessly communicate theperformance selection data to the wireless transceiver.
 22. The toyvehicle of claim 21, wherein the remote control unit is operative tocommunicate vehicle operation information to the control circuit, thevehicle operation information including one or more of, move forward,move left, move right, and move backward.
 23. The toy vehicle of claim14, wherein: the toy vehicle comprises on-board memory storing aplurality of different sets of performance characteristic datacombinations; and the control circuit utilizes one of the plurality ofadjustment sets of performance characteristic data combinations basedupon the performance selection data communicated to the control circuit.24. The toy vehicle of claim 23, wherein the on-board memory furtherincludes a default performance characteristic data combination, and thecontrol circuit utilizes the default performance characteristic datacombination if no performance selection data is communicated to thecontrol circuit to select one of the plurality of adjustment sets ofperformance characteristics.
 25. The toy vehicle of claim 23, furthercomprising a plurality of data cards, each of the plurality of datacards being configured operate a data card reader to cause the data cardreader to communicate performance selection data corresponding to arespective one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performancecharacteristic data combinations.